Blog

January 11, 2014

The first family we will visit is from Iraq. The father in this family (age 41) was a manager at an automobile store in Iraq where made a decent salary. While mother (age 36) and three daughters (ages 17, 6, and 3) were at home, their windows were broken and they were forced to leave their home. For their safety they had to stay out of their home until they were able to move to Turkey. They stayed in Turkey for a year and a half. They were not able to work in Turkey and they ran out of money. They arrived in Arizona on December 6th and are very happy to be here. The father respects the United States he is looking forward to finding a job. Two of the girls are school aged and they will start school after winter break.

The second family recently arrived from Iraq, on November 26th. The father is fifty eight years old. He is a carpenter who also paints oil paintings. He would love to get an easel and oil paints so he can start to paint again. He also wants to find carpentry work. The mother (age 53) was a math teacher for sixth graders. She plans to stay home with their girls to help them with their school work and to work on her English. The son is twenty seven years old. He was a computer engineer working for Americans in Iraq. Because of his work his life was threatened, so the family immigrated to the United States. There are four daughters in this family, two are married and remain in Iraq, and two are here with family. They are thirteen and seventeen years old and have started school. One of the young girls likes to play guitar and the other likes soccer and volleyball.

The third family we will visit is an Iranian family of three who arrived in Arizona on December 6th. The father was a locksmith in Iran. They lived in Turkey for three years where they had to exhaust all of their money to support themselves and their children. They have a daughter who lives in Los Angeles. Shortly after this week’s WTAP delivery the family will be moving to an apartment closer to their two sons who arrived in the valley in 2009. They have help with the move and are not concerned about moving the furniture from this apartment to the new one. They will be happy to be living near their sons, and grateful for the help they receive from WTAP and our volunteers!